Capuano continues mastery over Cubs with 5-1 victory

Dodgers lefty as effective as ever while Volstad again pays for 1 bad inning

May 05, 2012|By Dave van Dyck, Chicago Tribune reporter

The history charts of the starting pitchers foretold the outcome of the game.

The Dodgers' Chris Capuano had won 8 of 11 decisions lifetime against the Cubs. The Cubs' Chris Volstad hadn't won a game against any team since July 10.

True to form, the Dodgers won 5-1 Saturday at a foggy and chilly Wrigley Field, leaving the Cubs to deny that Volstad's rotation spot was in jeopardy.

"Yeah I think it's way too early for that, there's no question about it," manager Dale Sveum said.

However, Volstad is 0-4 with a 6.55 ERA in six starts since his trade from the Marlins for Carlos Zambrano. And his problem Saturday was, as Sveum put it, "kind of the same-old" of allowing the big inning.

This time it was the second, when the Dodgers scored three runs, two coming on Capuano's two-out, two-run double.

That's the recurring theme for Volstad in five of his six starts — one bad inning.

The start before, against the Phillies in Philadelphia, Volstad allowed four runs in the first inning before finishing with five scoreless frames.

In previous starts he allowed the Cardinals three runs in the sixth, one in the other five; the Reds four in the first; and the Cardinals four in the fourth and zero in the other five.

"It's just somehow getting through those innings," Sveum said. "When people get on, for some reason he's having trouble getting out of that. Obviously, he has been pretty efficient when nobody's on base."

Said Volstad: "From the stretch has been a struggle. That one inning (each start) has to be better, that's all it comes down to."

Volstad admitted it could mechanical, could be mental or …

"It could be just a relaxing thing," he said. "Just relax and get back to what you were doing from the windup."

Volstad also allowed two fifth-inning runs — helped by his error and one by Starlin Castro — before leaving.

Meanwhile, Capuano continued his mysterious mastery over the Cubs, going from Castro's single in the first to Castro's single in the sixth without allowing a hit. The Cubs didn't score until the ninth inning off reliever Jamey Wright when Ian Stewart singled home Castro.

Capuano's lifetime ERA against the Cubs — mostly with Sveum watching him with the Brewers — is 3.35.

"I don't know what he has (vs. the Cubs)," said Alfonso Soriano, who went 0-for-3 against the left-hander. "He knows how to pitch. He knows what he's doing on the mound."

Capuano is pitching well against everyone this season, raising his record to 4-0 in his first year with the Dodgers.

"He's spotting the fastball inside on the righties late in the count and he has had a great changeup all season," Sveum said.